PaviElle French is an Emmy Award-winning, interdisciplinary artist and educator from Rondo - a historically Black neighborhood in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is a 2021-2023 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, a 2020 McKnight Artist Fellow, and a 2016 Sage Award for Dance and Choreography recipient. She received a Mark Award for Songwriting in 2023.
French is known for such works as – A Requiem for Zula (2018) written in celebration of her mother’s life; Sands of Time (2021) with The SPCO, commissioned by The Sands Family; a self-produced album called SOVEREIGN (2020); The SOVEREIGN Suite (2022) commissioned by The Schubert Club in connection with PaviElle’s residency with The American Composer Forum (22-24); and has most recently released The SOVEREIGN Suite Video filmed by Peter Myers, and Soundtrack (2023). French most recently was awarded a MacDowell Fellowship, and she is currently working toward a curriculum and one-woman show, based on her work through her “SOVEREIGN Series.”
At MacDowell, French wrote and recorded a full 38-minute demo version of her new project called SOVEREIGN: ALIGNED.
Portrait by Sharolyn Hagen
